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Author
Topic: US food prices increasing sharply (Read 22918 times)

Gas fluctuates between $3.10 and $3.25 per gallon regular unleaded here. A loaf of bread that isn't store brand can be anywhere between two and three dollars. Store brand or cheap milk is around $3.85 per gallon.

I don't think I have seen any gas stations that are not pay at the pump or pay before you pump around here.

Grocery Inflation: The New York Times reports that the price of food is surging: Government figures released Friday showed that grocery costs had jumped 5.1 percent in 12 months, the latest in a string of increases. In fact, the nation is undergoing its worst grocery inflation since the early 1990s.With a few exceptions, nearly every grocery category measured by the Labor Department, which compiles the official inflation numbers, has increased in the last year. Milk is up 17 percent, as are dried beans, peas and lentils. Cheese is up 15 percent, rice and pasta 13 percent, and bread 12 percent.No food product has gone up as much as eggs, jumping 25 percent since February 2007 and 62 percent in the last two years.

Actually, a big reason for the escalating food costs is that a huge amount of corn is being converted into Ethanol, which is the biggest sham in the history of fossil fuels. I will admit I am Republican, ok, put the pitchforks down, but there is a lot of things this administration has done that I disagree with. And this is definitely one of them.More and more corn is being used for Ethanol production, therefore, less supply and greater demand for the corn used to feed livestock as well as corn utilized to produce food for direct human consumption.Therefore, higher demand, higher prices. Factor in that more land is being used for corn production and less of other staple crops and you can see the results. And before anybody starts spouting off about global warming, I suggest you take a close look at the science behind these so called theories. The new prediction is a period of global cooling due to a lack of solar flare activity. Not to mention that Earth is not tied by a magic string at a preset distance from the sun but rather wobbles in it's orbit. Hence, a little closer to the sun, a little warmer on the planet and vice-versa.If this administration really wanted to use alternative fuel sources, they should try Ethonal made from Brazilian sugar cane. It actually produces higher BTU' than the the corn based fuel. But, I guess the lobbyist for Florida sugar growers got into somebody's pocket first.

Actually, a big reason for the escalating food costs is that a huge amount of corn is being converted into Ethanol, which is the biggest sham in the history of fossil fuels. I will admit I am Republican, ok, put the pitchforks down, but there is a lot of things this administration has done that I disagree with. And this is definitely one of them.More and more corn is being used for Ethanol production, therefore, less supply and greater demand for the corn used to feed livestock as well as corn utilized to produce food for direct human consumption.Therefore, higher demand, higher prices. Factor in that more land is being used for corn production and less of other staple crops and you can see the results. And before anybody starts spouting off about global warming, I suggest you take a close look at the science behind these so called theories. The new prediction is a period of global cooling due to a lack of solar flare activity. Not to mention that Earth is not tied by a magic string at a preset distance from the sun but rather wobbles in it's orbit. Hence, a little closer to the sun, a little warmer on the planet and vice-versa.If this administration really wanted to use alternative fuel sources, they should try Ethonal made from Brazilian sugar cane. It actually produces higher BTU' than the the corn based fuel. But, I guess the lobbyist for Florida sugar growers got into somebody's pocket first.

Spoken like a true Republican my friend. You were able to tie in rising oil prices to Ethanol and the myth of global warming without ever mentioning the war in Iraq. Ethanol production has nothing to do with oil going from twenty seven dollars a barrel when the Republican war started to where it is now. In fact Ethanol is supposed to help us decrease our dependence on foreign oil and help us lower the price. At least that's what the Republican administration told us.

Umm, funny, I don't remember writing anything about fuel prices or the war. I believe I deliberately stayed to the point of food prices in order to avoid a protracted debate on political philosophies.

Rising oil prices are the cause of rising food costs. You can't discuss the rising costs of oil and food without discussing the cost of the war. Well you could, but it would be disingenuous. Rising oil and food prices are facts not philosophy.

And I haven't denied it either. I was pointing out only one of many factors. It is true that the rising cost of fuel is a contributor to the current trend of rising grocery costs. But so are a myriad of other factors, includong the war, the dollar's trading value in foreign markets, etc.

31diver, you may be a republican but you are not a farmer. The corn used for Ethanol production is not the same corn we use for food. The by-product of Ethanol productions is used for livestock feed with a high protein level. So we are getting Ethanol and still getting livestock feed. Ethanol is not the cause of the increase in the price of food. Wrong type of corn dude.

Like I said you aren't a farmer. Do you think farmers are allowed to plant as much wheat as they want? They can't. Farmers are allotted so much acreage to plant wheat. The Department of Ag. tells each farmer how much wheat one can plant. You put down more than the allotment and you'll have to disc it up. So to answer your question it isn't taking up acreage that could be use for another crop.

But damn I remember back in the day (c.1980) when a gallon of milk crept up past $1.00/gal! Its close to $4/gal here in Maryland now, too.

Check with Walgreens, when buying milk. If it's the same nationwide, as it is here in Florida. Walgreens, usually gives the best price on a gallon of milk. It's always lower than the supermarkets. ( they want to get you in there, so thsy can sell you something else ! )

Rapidrod,Is it your position that the only reasons for the higher price of food is due exclusively to higher fuel prices and the war?

Of course not, but it is the cause for the largest increase in food prices. When it cost double what it did to fill a truck with fuel those truckers aren't going to suffer the loss. A fuel surcharge is added to the freight bill which the store increase that amount on the product to make up for it. It takes fuel to farm and most tractors and combines use 150-200 gal in 10 hours. Most fertilizers to be manufactured take natural gas, increase the cost of gas and it increase the price of the product. So yes fuel is the leading cause of the increase of not only food prices but all necessities that we use.

Check with Walgreens, when buying milk. If it's the same nationwide, as it is here in Florida. Walgreens, usually gives the best price on a gallon of milk. It's always lower than the supermarkets. ( they want to get you in there, so thsy can sell you something else ! )

Ray

Kroger's also has quite a few specials on milk. 1/2 gallons this week are 4 for $5.

Logged

I've never killed anyone, but I frequently get satisfaction reading the obituary notices.-Clarence Darrow

Wow. We have one on every freaking corner usually with a CVS across the street. We have one street that changes names in the middle of it so in my mind there is 2 of them on the same street, they might be 5 miles apart. Dumb!

I've been volunteering, on and off, for over twenty years at our local ASO, mostly in the food pantry. Before he died my friend Dennis worked to establish the first food pantry in Memphis to help people with AIDS. I remember how he just had to gay it up and make it look flashy and like a store. Folks would come in weekly and "shop" for food and nonperishables. Those that weren't too ill would try to make it in on their own just to be able to get out and socialize a bit. We'd set up card tables and chairs and serve coffee and smoke. We called it Cafe Dennis.

Now because of costs and the increasing competition of other food pantries we're only able to open once a month. You get a prepackaged bag and you can only get what we give you. The Cafe closed long ago.

It's amazing that in America people will wait in line for an hour for two boxes of Kraft macaroni and cheese.

No Rod that's not it, but I'm not surprised that you would find humor in the suffering of others. Thank goodness you got yours. Most of those socializing back then are dead now anyway.

How would you know that is not reason now Hal, for some to stand in line? You've never been put in that position Hal have you? The only thing I notice out of you Hal is that you like to flame bait and belittle others that are not as "fortunate" as you. Like the article from the "Columbus Dispatch," hmmm you stretched to get that article. since you don't live in Ohio and you posted it for one reason. Well you can play your games as much as you like but I'll overlook your your belittling mentality.

How would you know that is not reason now Hal, for some to stand in line? You've never been put in that position Hal have you? The only thing I notice out of you Hal is that you like to flame bait and belittle others that are not as "fortunate" as you. Like the article from the "Columbus Dispatch," hmmm you stretched to get that article. since you don't live in Ohio and you posted it for one reason. Well you can play your games as much as you like but I'll overlook your your belittling mentality.

Yes Rod I have. Spent one year homeless if it is any of your business. I've had my days of living on handouts believe me. Maybe that's why I do feel a bit more compassion than you ever dream of showing. You have health insurance but are the first to want to deny it to others. Any opinion different than yours is met with sarcasm and attack. Oh you're right Rod, I am fortunate. Yes, I do work, but because I don't have health insurance I must live on a subsistence level (that means not make too much money Rod) in order to qualify for ADAP.

What the hell Ohio has to do with this is beyond me. If you don't like what I say Rod I suggest you put me on ignore. I'm going to report this to the mods and let them settle it out.

You do that Hal, because they will wonder why you put the article from the Columbus Dispatch in a post when it doesn't have anything to do with you because you are from Nashville Tenn., it hasn't beem that long ago that you jumped me for getting assistance to go to the AMG2007.

I've been volunteering, on and off, for over twenty years at our local ASO, mostly in the food pantry. Before he died my friend Dennis worked to establish the first food pantry in Memphis to help people with AIDS. I remember how he just had to gay it up and make it look flashy and like a store. Folks would come in weekly and "shop" for food and nonperishables. Those that weren't too ill would try to make it in on their own just to be able to get out and socialize a bit. We'd set up card tables and chairs and serve coffee and smoke. We called it Cafe Dennis.

Now because of costs and the increasing competition of other food pantries we're only able to open once a month. You get a prepackaged bag and you can only get what we give you. The Cafe closed long ago.

It's amazing that in America people will wait in line for an hour for two boxes of Kraft macaroni and cheese.

edited for typo

Hal -- there is no record in the forums of Rod posting the above statement. Please send me a PM explaining why you would falsely attribute this quote to him.

I believe at the main office in Albuquerque, people are able to "shop" at the NMAS food bank and choose what they like from what is available.

This sometimes includes such things as fresh fruit and vegetables. Around the holidays, we also give people holiday baskets, which are basically bags of holiday type food including a turkey.

Out in the hinterland, where I operate, we don't have a food bank. There are some local food banks that people can access and my agency provides people with gift cards from a local supermarket chain rather than stocking a rural food bank or pantry.

The bottom line is, people need help with groceries, especially those who live on less than $1,000 a month.

With rising food costs, I think most of us will feel the pinch, regardless of income.

I still plan on putting in a big garden. That way, at least I can share what I can't use and I might be able to stock up for the winter.

Not that long ago, people were able to donate fresh veggies / fruit from their gardens to the food pantries. Then, for some reason they changed the rules and wouldn't let anyone donate fresh foods. So, for awhile, the local - our small town pantry - allowed folks to donate fresh veggies / fruit that they "canned". There was talk about disallowing that, too. I think it would be a shame.

We're planting a container garden on our front porch. We're hoping to get tomatoes, bell peppers, onions (green, white, and purple), garlic, green beans, carrots, herbs, and who knows what else. Hubby is talking about building a bigger garden on the hill. We wouldn't be able to get it together for this year, though. It needs staked out, plowed, a rabbit fence burried, and a deer fence built. We're hoping to make it at least 20ft x 20ft. Then, we'll be able to add corn, gords, cabbage, lettuce, pumpkins, and canatlope, and cucumbers. YUM!

Betty, hun, we get our garden together, and I'll drive down to Indiana and bring you a trunk load of fresh veggies, apples, peaches, and cherries (from our trees).

If the cost of milk and eggs keeps going up, I'm gonna have to see about adding a cow and some chickens.

container gardening would be the way to go for some of you.of course, it does cost to acquire the materials needed and on a tight budjet it can be a fair part of the monthly budjet--that intial investment.the food banks should promote this idea and supply seed, container and simple directions. Only expense would be soil (which one can get for the taking out of a small front yard or purchased at lowe's/walmart/etc. the harvest is constant for months and it's fresh too. we plant sugar sweets (cherry tomatoes) every year in our half-barrel planter which is outside, near the front entrance of the house. Each year there is more of those tasty sweets than two of us can eat or give away!

The good thing about container gardening is you can use anything..just make sure to poke holes in the bottom. Our friends with the 15 kids plant tomato plants in their snowboots. It's really cute sitting out on their front porch with tomoto plants growing out of them. If you use the cheap plastic storage containers, put crushed cans or clean food cans in the bottom so you don't have to use as much soil. Don't forget to poke holes in the bottom of the container.

Ever tried to do a container garden from a 4th floor apartment with no elevator, where the only accessible outdoors space is a ancient steel fire escape landing that heats up to 150 degrees every day in the summer? I'm sure it's great for frying bacon.

Ever tried to do a container garden from a 4th floor apartment with no elevator, where the only accessible outdoors space is a ancient steel fire escape landing that heats up to 150 degrees every day in the summer? I'm sure it's great for frying bacon.

Hothouse tomatoes?

Seriously, though, I bet you could grow rosemary. It's superhardy and used here in the Desert Southwest as a low-water/high-heat shrub. The grass can be brown and smoking and the rosemary will still be green, blooming and fragrant.

Herb encrusted lamb chops with garlic potato gratin and sugar snap peas, followed by a dessert of chocolate bread pudding and a glass of madiera.

I remembered your food suggestion and I thought of something that you could grow in a container on the Venus you call the area outside your apartment. I'm sorry for offending you. Gardening makes me happy, and as of Friday I will be a total container gardener, as I'm becoming an urban dweller not on the ground floor.

Oh, you didn't offend me. Trust, I love gardening. In Brooklyn I had a backyard, though small by most standards (think postage stamp) but I tore it all out and re-landscaped everything. It was all flowering plants though, not food.

Ever tried to do a container garden from a 4th floor apartment with no elevator, where the only accessible outdoors space is a ancient steel fire escape landing that heats up to 150 degrees every day in the summer? I'm sure it's great for frying bacon.

OK. Everyone else do container gardening. David, you are not allowed. You'd likely stub your toe. God forbid you make some bulk and muscles on your lean mean bod. City slicker! get a plastic container (it's lightweight) and use that spot outside your window (that you escape out of for a cig) to set it 2/3 full of soil and drop a few cherry tomato seeds and voila. Wait. Just considered it would likely be a fire code violation.